The spelling of the word shepherd doesn’t make sense at all. Should it not have two ‘e’s, if it’s sheep-herd? Or else ditch the h, since my 3rd grade reading skills tell me to pronounce it as sheferd? I can’t approve.

Spelling aside, the recipe I’ve got to share today is, I guess, basically just a plumped up shepherd’s pie. Kyle rated it a 9/10 for taste, but an 11/10 when you consider how easy it was – and that’s after I made him peel and mash the potatoes. So… pretty good. Plus, it’s a brilliant excuse to eat a lot of ketchup.

God I love ketchup.

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds potatoes
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons mustard
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 egg
• 1 onion soup mix packet (the ones I found were Lipton, and came two to a small box)
• 1 15.25 ounce can of sweet corn, drained
• 2 cups shredded cheddar
• 3 pounds ground beef
• extra ketchup for serving

You should probably use the least fatty beef you see in that quantity, as there’s no chance to drain it after cooking.

Start a large pot of water boiling on the stove and get your roommate to peel the potatoes. Chop them into large chunks – we had sad little potatoes from Giant, so into quarters was enough.

Boil the potatoes until they’re soft enough that you can stick a fork in them with basically no resistance. Drain, and then in the same pot add the butter, cream, garlic, salt and pepper, and mash thoroughly, tasting to decide if you need more salt or pepper. (Remember, it’s easier to add more than to take some out!)

Honestly…if you used instant mashed potatoes, I wouldn’t judge, but I already had a bag of potatoes and using instant on a food blog seems kind of…not the point?  The texture from ‘real’ mashed potatoes is probably better.

Set the potatoes aside for a minute preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you didn’t feel like buying bread crumbs earlier, it should be ok – I just toasted and then briefly food processed some homemade bread and it made some grand bread crumbs! Whatever bread you’ve got around should do the same. However you come by them, put the bread crumbs in a large bowl and add the onion soup mix, ketchup, Worcestershire, egg, and mustard.

Add the beef and mix to combine well. You might as well use your hands, as they’re going to get dirty in a minute anyway.

Beef ball!

Take half the meat mixture and spread it in a 9X13″ dish.

Sprinkle the drained corn evenly over the beef.

Top with the remaining half of the beef, and then cover with the cheese.

Pat the mashed potatoes on top. It’s sort of a satisfying feeling, patting a potato-pile!

It’s not a bad idea to put your dish on a foil-lined baking sheet, just in case anything oozes over the side while cooking – this is a FULL dish!

Bake for 45 minutes. If the potatoes aren’t browned to your liking at that point, broil it briefly. On our oven, the broiler is a separate death-trap drawer underneath the main oven. I super hate putting anything in there. Hopefully in your oven, the broiler is just the top elements in the oven!

Serve with lots of ketchup, and expect leftovers if it’s just two of you because your other roommate left for a week without mentioning it to you… Luckily, the leftovers are just as good later!

Beef Trifle???

Chunky Shepherd’s Pie

• 4 pounds potatoes
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons mustard
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 egg
• 1 onion soup mix packet
• 1 15.25 ounce can of sweet corn, drained
• 2 cups shredded cheddar
• 3 pounds lean ground beef
• extra ketchup for serving

Bring large pot of water to boil. Peel and roughly chop potatoes. Boil until soft – when they can be easily stabbed with a fork. Drain, return to pot, and mash with cream, butter, garlic, salt, and pepper.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine bread crumbs, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire, onion soup packet, and egg in large bowl. Add beef, mixing well.

Press half of meat mixture into a 9X13″ dish. Spread corn evenly over the beef layer, then cover with the second half of beef. Spread cheese evenly, then coat with potatoes.

Bake 45 minutes, and broil at end to brown potatoes if needed. Serve with ketchup.